The invention relates to a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles having a radio receiver with an RDS (radio data system) decoder for digital signals, convertible through the use of a table into traffic information.
Traffic information is known to those in the field as TMC (traffic message channel). The problems of such a radio receiver have to do with the adjustment of, or changes in, the table for the standard on which it is based and the data used to code and decode the digital signals. These include local codes and standard text. A radio receiver is disclosed as a radio signal receiver of the type referred to above in German patent document DE-OS 35 36 820; this receiver contains the local codes and standard text in a fixed-value storage medium and decodes the codes transmitted and forms speech information from them. It is not possible to adjust to an altered standard, for example, with this system.
European patent document EP 0 580 617 B1 describes a radio receiver in which an attempt is made to overcome the above-described problem as follows: a chip card containing the local codes and additional data for conversion of the digital signals in a data storage can be inserted into the radio receiver. Adjustment to an altered standard and changed road conditions and local codes can be effected by replacing the chip card. Changes in local names can be taken care of by replacing the chip card. However, a radio receiver of this type is expensive, as it has to have a chip card reader. Moreover, it is not easy to use the chip card as it can easily be removed and become lost.
The goal of the invention is to create a radio signal receiver of the type discussed above in which the radio receiver does not have to be changed or adjusted when standards, local codes, and the like, change, and moreover offers the option of easy adjustment, changing, and updating.
The invention achieves this goal by a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles having a radio receiver with an RDS decoder for digital signals, convertible through the use of a table into traffic information. The signals can be forwarded from the decoder via a data link to a navigation system provided with a route data storage. The navigation system contains the table and generates the traffic information.
It is advantageous for the navigation system to convert the traffic information into acoustic information by means of a speech storage.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the navigation system outputs the traffic information as visual information. The navigation system enters the traffic information in the map section being displayed, preferably the planned route. The radio signal receiver further contains a storage for at least some of the digital signals.